From IFCO/Pastors for Peace: Many of us hoped that President Obama's election would bring about some changes in many aspects of US policy -- including the ending of the illegal, immoral, and internationally condemned US economic blockade against Cuba...But Cuba is still deemed an 'enemy' under the Trading with the Enemies Act. Sales of US products to Cuba are still severely restricted, and sales of Cuban products to the US are absolutely forbidden. Banks and businesses in other countries are still harassed for doing business with Cuba. The travel ban on US citizens visiting Cuba remains. [read full release]

Only a blizzard brings Shabbat to an American city. But that is a reminder of how profound is the need for "Free Time for a Free People. " Overwork and its misshapen twin, disemployment, are both the symptoms and the causes of an unfree society. It is no accident that in our story of Liberation from Mitzrayyim, the Tight and Narrow Place, the first change in the life of the Israelites -- even before Sinai - is the practice and celebration of Shabbat.

What follows is part of a statement on "Free Time for a Free People" that in 2001 The Shalom Center initiated and won broad support for. You can read the full statement here, with sections on the biblical origins of Free Time, its spiritual and economic aspects, and the path toward organizing support for social change toward "free time." For an entire section of articles on this question, click here.

On Sunday, November 8th, Beth El Synagogue in St. Louis Park hosted former Secretary of State, National Security Adviser and oil company apparatchik Condoleezza Rice; Twin Cities Indymedia got footage of Rice attacking the Goldstone Report which exposed Israeli war crimes in Gaza.

Members of Beth El's congregation protested the offensive invitation for months, only to get refused access to the congregation newsletter and board discussions. Women Against Military Madness (WAMM) led the organizing of an anti-torture protest outside.

During the action, Beth El security and the police attempted to demand the protest relocate away from the nearest public sidewalk into a so-called "FIRST AMENDMENT AREA" because Beth El had obtained its own protest permit from the St Louis Park police, apparently a 'covert op' of sorts. (The police didn't indicate if free speech still existed in other 'areas'.) On two occasions beforehand the police refused to return calls about any possible permits, then they attempted to spring this setup on WAMM, merely proving further the hopeless corruption and futility of the entire demonstration permit system itself. Of course profits were involved for Rice, who netted cash from the high-price event. Below: more videos, photo stills, detailed notes on Rice's speech, and the fight inside Beth El.